Darkness Betrayed (Torn)

by Christine Hughes

  “Yes.” His body was shaking. He could feel their arrival. And so could I.

  A boom of thunder dropped Malakai to his knees, arms covering his head as he cowered. In the distance, a flock of Sebastian’s winged Exiled sped toward us. With every blink, they grew closer and there was no more time for either Ethan or myself to flee. Whatever. I was in the mood for a good fight anyway. Ethan knew what I was thinking and we stood, back to back, waiting for the onslaught of their swords. Game on.

  When they descended upon us, the sky grew dark and I was momentarily blinded by a flurry of wings and swords. Before I knew it, Ethan was no longer at my back.

  “Behind you!” Ethan yelled and I spun around as Ethan sliced the wings off of the intruder. It stumbled towards me and I pierced its heart. The scream that emitted from the depths of its body deafened me and anger coursed through my body, threatening to overtake me. Were it not for Ethan’s presence, I would have succumbed to the darkness. As it was, it grew with every Exiled I killed. With every swipe of my sword, every fallen wing, every pierced heart, the light faded from within me.

  Though the fight lasted mere minutes, it seemed to go on for hours. When the noise finally died down and Ethan caught my eyes, I noticed he was covered in black blood. I smiled. Standing feet from each other, we may as well have been on separate continents.

  “Samantha.” He held up his hand and lowered his sword, taking small, hesitant steps toward me as I stalked back and forth, my eyes never leaving his. I had once again separated from myself.

  “Let it go, Samantha. Don’t let it take over.”

  A growl whispered through my lips into nothingness. He stopped where he stood, five feet from me and closed his eyes.

  Samantha. Come back. Don’t go over the edge. I’m here.

  I cocked my head at him as his telepathic response forced its way into my head.

  Please. Come back to me. It’s not too late.

  Tears pricked the corners of my eyes as emotion poured from him and into my soul. I wiped them away, taking note of the black smear across the back of my hand. Light began to slowly take over the darkness. I stared for a moment before reason clawed its way back into my heart. And once again, I was whole.

  Ethan?

  I’m here.

  Reluctantly, I smiled and warmed at his words. I’m here. Closing my eyes, I allowed the light to fill me fully and give me strength. Calm washed over me and I knew I was safe - safe from Sebastian, safe from the Exiled, safe from the darkness.

  “Samantha! No!”

  My eyes flew open as Ethan screamed my name. His face, so beautiful, blanched.

  I felt bony fingers clutch my shoulders and lift me in the air. I was disoriented and confused. Claws dug into my skin and I knew I was bleeding. The harder I fought against it, the deeper they dug into me. Legs dangling off the ground, I saw Ethan stand and stare at me, sword lowered at his side. In an instant, I saw an Exiled swoop toward him and knock him down.

  A scream erupted from my throat as I hung useless, pulled into the air by one of them. The one that held me laughed and, within moments, everything faded to black.

  Chapter 3

  My eyes fluttered open and my head rolled to my shoulder. My vision was cloudy; I strained to see where I was. Slumped against a stone wall, panic formed somewhere in my belly but was quickly tamped out by my growing rage. For a moment, I couldn’t figure out why I was so angry. Where am I? I couldn’t see more than five feet in front of me even when my eyes finally adjusted. I wasn’t sure how long I’d been there and I didn’t have the strength to care. Instead, my thoughts drifted, once again, to Ethan.

  Every night, while he slept, I watched over him. Devastated by his brother’s betrayal and the knowledge that Sebastian was his father, Ethan wasn’t taking any of it well. I sat in a constant state of watch, with one hand on his shoulder, pulling all the negativity and pain from him and filling myself with it.

  It wasn’t at all uncomfortable, filling myself with his troubles. It was eerily restorative. Almost as if all the darkness that threatened to consume him fed me and made me whole again.

  It had only been a few weeks, but we’d heard nothing from the Exiled. I’d hoped we wouldn’t become complacent so I trained with the others daily as I grappled with the idea that maybe destroying Sebastian wasn’t what was needed. After all, if I was supposed to maintain balance, what was more even than our living, breathing hatred for one another?

  Still new to all of this, I found myself lacking. I wasn’t quite fast enough with my sword. I wasn’t quite strong enough mentally and physically to keep up. I wasn’t quite controlled enough to keep my composure when I got frustrated or angry. And that was the bigger issue. It was hard getting these people to trust me when I could barely trust myself.

  When I learned Sebastian killed my father, I knew of one focus – to destroy him. But things became more complicated when I found out my best friend, Ethan’s brother Lucas, was the one who betrayed my father to Sebastian. All my life, the two of them were my rocks and, when my dad died, I thought they’d be my saviors. Funny how time year put things into perspective.

  When I had the chance to destroy all that was dark and twisted, I allowed it to live. Instead of spreading hope, I kept it at bay, doling it out in rations. I walked a thin, twisted, unchartered line between two worlds. On one hand, the Faithful promised goodness and hope and light. On the other, the Exiled sought to infect as many people with their darkness and despair as they could. It wasn’t a difficult job for Sebastian and his followers. After all, what was more enticing than promises of riches, power and fame? It led to greed, gluttony, pride and the rest of the seven deadlies.

  The problem I couldn’t seem to solve, since I’d changed, was that I felt closer to the Exiled, and members of the Faithful weren’t happy about it.

  Shaking the mess from my head, I finally moved to stand but found my feet and hands shackled to the floor. Sebastian. His name echoed in my head as I gritted my teeth and came alive. Fully conscious, I was aware of a deep pain in my shoulders. Blood stained my shirt. Claws. I remembered an Exiled minion had grabbed me, lifting me away. Ethan! The last thing I remember was Ethan crumpling to the ground.

  “Sebastian!” I screamed over and over again until my voice grew hoarse. The faint shuffling of feet silenced me. As a door creaked open, I grew still, waiting for what was next. I tapped into my anger and let it fill me, consume me, until I threatened to become one of them.

  Of all the things I’d learned in the short amount of time since Sebastian and Lucas disappeared into the earth, one thing was certain - there was more to all of this than anyone had bothered to tell me.

  I knew there would be more sacrifices, there would be more pain, there would be more hope and there would be, at the end of it all, a change that would either destroy hope or give it new life.

  At the center were a box and a pendant. The Box of Hope, something I thought of as merely a box that had once been opened in curiosity, was so much more. It was given to test the strength of humans, much like the apple was given to Eve. Would she eat it? At the time, it was a question; now it was a fact. At the center of that fact wasn’t an evil snake, it was Sebastian. How? I hadn’t figured that out yet. But I did know that the box hadn’t been opened since and trapped inside was hope in some form or another. If it was that simple, why hadn’t any of the Faithful opened it? The question I pondered wasn’t should it be destroyed but could it be? If hope was released from her prison, could the box be destroyed? Wouldn’t her release benefit the mission of the Faithful? And how was the pendant attached to all of it? From what I’d gathered, it was an extension of hope and if hope was released from the box, the pendant would be a beacon for all to find. Much like it has become a beacon for all to find me. So my problem with all of this wasn’t the destruction of one of the items, but the question of why I couldn’t destroy one.

  It was the circular nature of my argument that caused the others to question my allegia
nce to the Faithful. With no real written dogma and only blind faith as their guide, how did they know any of this? Education of any kind would have informed them that these whispered rituals and stories always twist onto themselves. They are distorted in the repetition. The whole thing reminded me of the telephone game I played in elementary school.

  While the Exiled had a leader, a figurehead, the Faithful had none. Their leader was trapped in a box with no real means to communicate effectively. Hell if I was gonna take the helm. I was beginning to question my real purpose. I was beginning to think I was just a pawn in an age-old disagreement between the two factions. I was beginning to think it wouldn’t end well for me.

  My role as balance could have been taken up by anyone. Something had to be destroyed. Of course, Sebastian was one of those things, but true balance would also mean the destruction of something good, something hopeful. Nothing anyone said appeased me. Question after question, loophole after loophole swirled in my head and I verbalized each and every one, much to the dismay of those who thought I wasn’t good enough for the job. Maybe I wasn’t.

  “Sebastian!” I was able to find enough conviction to scream his name until I thought my throat would bleed.

  “Tsk, tsk, tsk. I had hoped you’d be a bit quieter, Samantha. It wouldn’t do for the others to hear you.”

  The voice was huskily female and I couldn’t make out from where it was coming. It was everywhere, echoing off the walls, the floor, the ceiling. “Show yourself!”

  “I will, but you need to be quiet, Samantha. We really can’t have you making so much noise. Sebastian can’t know you’re here or this will have been in vain.”

  Slowly the sconces that lined the walls began to illuminate the room with a fiery glow. As the room bathed in light, she stood in front of me. High-heeled leather boots tapped in annoyance. My eyes traveled upwards, taking her in. Long auburn hair blended with the firelight. The overly dramatic roll of her green eyes as she appraised me made it apparent she found me lacking. What else is new? Jet-black wings spread behind her. Her black clothing contrasted sharply against her pale skin. I inhaled quickly. Breathtaking.

  For a moment I looked down at my torn jeans, dirty, white, long-sleeved tee and navy Vans. My hair was held in its usual, messy ponytail. I looked like the child she obviously thought I was. She couldn’t be that much older than me, but her demeanor suggested she had me by years.

  Her eyebrow arched, she smirked. “Something wrong, Samantha?” And I knew she knew exactly what I was thinking. Shut it down, Sam. But I couldn’t block her. No one had taught me how yet. I was an open book to anyone who had the wherewithal to listen.

  As my anger continued to rise, something was forcing it to calm, something outside of my control. As if reading my thoughts, she said distastefully, “It wouldn’t do for you to get angry, Samantha. We need you calm and focused. We won’t hurt you. We want to help you.”

  “We who? Who are you?”

  “My name is Malena and my job is to help train you. However distasteful I find my orders. Help you control what’s inside you. The way you fly off the handle, it’s a wonder the rest of them haven’t abandoned you yet.” She spoke bluntly, without an ounce of care for my feelings. Kind of like how I’d become.

  Pulling a chair in front of me, she crossed her long legs in one graceful movement and settled down, her hands gently folded on her lap. “Let’s just get to it, shall we?”

  I shrugged, knowing what I wanted didn’t matter at that moment.

  “Your guardian angel is conflicted, Samantha. He can’t keep you safe like this. He loves you, but he’s been working overtime to keep you in control. He’s losing. He won’t last much longer if you don’t try harder. In essence, you’re destroying him with your whining and indecision. Because of this, you are in no shape to face Sebastian.”

  “Don’t talk about Ethan like you know him. You don’t.” My words dripped venom even as the storm settled.

  “Oh but I do.” Her smirk led me to believe she did. It was unsettling. “We’ve been watching you, waiting for you. We know more than you think. More than you’d want us to.” Her perfect mouth curled.

  “Think about it this way, if he continues to be distracted by your temper, how is he supposed to protect you? If you keep relying on him, feeding his love like there is actually some chance you two could be together – keep questioning the law –how is he supposed to be clear headed enough to do his job? And speaking of his job, don’t you find it odd that when you were being taken away he made no move to save you? He just stood there, didn’t he, with his sword at his side, watching you fly away?”

  The look on his face as I flew away punched me in the gut. It wasn’t sadness or anger. It was resignation. I must be imagining things. I thought back over the past few weeks and realized Ethan has been distracted and sad. He hadn’t been able to calm me down as of late. Not like he could before. I’d just chalked it up to losing his brother. After all, the old Ethan, the Ethan I knew before all of this, had all but vanished. Have I caused him more pain? I had just assumed he was overcome with his brother’s betrayal and with finding out Sebastian was his father. Could I have missed something?

  Cocking her head slightly, she looked at me like one would look at a child who didn’t understand. “It is a job for him. You do realize that don’t you?”

  I shook my head. “It’s more than that. I don’t know what it is you think you know but it is more than that.”

  Admiring her fingernails she spoke, “You are strong but you are self-centered, as most teenagers are. The truth is he can’t help you, anymore.”

  What? Who the hell is she?

  Interrupting my thoughts, her hands waved in the air, dismissing me and the questions that ran through my head like a freight train. Head cocked to one side, she smiled tightly and blew out a long breath. “I don’t mean it as an insult. I am just stating facts you are uncomfortable with.

  “I am going to release the shackles, Samantha. Do not try to fight, run away or scream. I need your trust, however reticent. I promise I will not hurt you, unless it’s necessary.” Her lips curved upwards into a smirk, like she was hoping I’d do something wrong.

  My sharp retort was lost in my throat and I involuntarily nodded at her words. All my desire to fight had waned. With the flick of her hand, my shackles unbound and I rubbed my wrists absentmindedly as I kept my eyes trained on her face. I figured I might as well play along while I figured out how to get out of there. If only I could keep my focus linear.

  “How can you help me?” This should be good.

  Ignoring the sarcasm that dripped from my words, she clapped her hands twice as if she were calling upon a servant. “That’s better. Malakai!” Malakai?

  I watched as he stepped into the room, head bowed. I thought he died.

  “Please get Samantha a glass of water and something to eat.”

  “Yes Malena.” He backed out of the room, eyes never leaving the floor.

  “How? What? I thought he died?”

  “No. He’s always been skittish. He expects us to dispatch him at any moment. Truth is… we’ve grown sickly fond of him. It’s so hard to find good help these days.”

  She spoke as if I was supposed to share the secret in her head then shook it off as Malakai returned with a glass and an apple. I remembered the fruit as the only thing afforded me when Sebastian took me. What is it with these people and their damned apples?

  Malena let out a throaty laugh as her arms spread out beside her. “Isn’t it obvious? Wasn’t it the apple that began all of this?” Her eyes darkened to black for an instant and immediately, I felt a familiar rise of rage.

  Frowning, she considered me. As she did, I took a bite of the apple and grew calm once more.

  “It would do no good for you to get angry,” she snapped.

  “I’m sorry.” What? Why am I apologizing?

  “Oh, Samantha. You are going to be a difficult one to tame. And tame you we must if we have any hop
e of defeating Sebastian.”

  “Tame me?”

  “Yes, Samantha. Like a wild animal, you must be taught to submit.”

  “I don’t know who you think you are but –“

  “Hush, now. We wouldn’t want the boss to get angry.”

  My thoughts raced quickly to Malakai’s message. “You work for Damien?”

  She hardened and whispered. “Yes.”

  I considered the apple that had been offered and took another bite. “And you need me to defeat Sebastian.” It wasn’t a question and she smiled wryly.

  “You are our best hope of defeating him.” As she spoke the smile left her eyes and I was left with a cold shiver in my blood.

  “What do you need me to do?” I spoke through a mouthful of apple and Malena’s face twisted in disgust as pieces flew from my lips landing near her feet. I didn’t care. “I can’t kill him, you know. At least I haven’t figured out how to yet. And he said he couldn’t kill me either. So I’m not sure how you expect me to do this.”

  “No one said anything about you killing him yet. And with training you will be able to kill him, destroy him; free the world from him forever.” Pain shadowed her face and a strange thought snuck up on me.

  “Do you love him?”

  “Love who?” As she replied I knew she was being evasive. I knew she could read my thoughts but, for the sake of getting the hell out of here, I played along.

  “Sebastian.”

  As she stood, her chair flew back and shattered against the wall and she lifted me from the floor, her hands outstretched in front of me.

  “Do not talk about such things. Do not presume to know me. Do not be fooled. You are merely a means to an end and if I thought for one minute…”

  From the door a voice interrupted her. “Malena, put our guest down please.”

  His voice was like silk, but his eyes burned a hole through her. She cowered and stepped back until she was flush with the wall behind her. Malakai gasped and dropped to his knees, head bowed.

  “Yes sir,” she replied without lifting her face.